Toy animal having pivotal forward and rear portions



June 2, 1970 c. w. NEUFELD 3,

TOY ANIMAL HAVING PINOTAL FORWARD AND REAR PORTIONS Filed Feb. 29, 1968 INVEN'IUR. Ohm/9455 A1 A a/raw ,4 rap/v56 United States Patent M 3,514,896 TOY ANIMAL HAVING PIVOTAL FORWARD AND REAR PORTIONS Charles W. Neufeld, Upper Ribsden, Windlesham, England Newfeld Limited, Ashford Road, Middlesex, England) Filed Feb. 29, 1968, Ser. No. 709,291 Int. Cl. A63h 11/10 U.S. Cl. 46-103 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The disclosure relates to an improved movable animal toy comprising an internal skeletal structure having a pivotal joint adjacent one end of the skeletal structure, a resiliently flexible body surrounding the skeletal structure to form an animal shape, and wheels or other movable means attached to the extremities of the animal shape whereby the toy is movable in either a direct or a circular path by pivoting one end of the skeletal structure about the other.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention is concerned with improvements in a toy.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT According to this invention, there is provided a toy comprising a body including two end portions each of which includes means by which it may be propelled, said end portions being connected in tandem such that one portion can be aligned with or inclined to the other.

This invention may be used with all kinds of toys, for example, hand-operated land, air, sea or space toy vehicles, foot-operated toy cars and toy toboggans and the like, but it is perhaps seen to best advantage in toys of the kind which encourage a baby to walk by making him push or pull them along. Generally, such toys simulate a four-legged animal, customarily a pony or dog, and wheels are provided to act as propelling means. These toys are herein called walking-aid toys.

This invention also provides a walking-aid toy comprising a body including two end portions, each of which has at least one rotatably-mounted wheel and an internal skeletal structure, the two skeletal structures being joined in tandem such that one end portion can be aligned with or inclined to the other end portion in the plane of rotation of the wheels, and in which the body is formed of resiliently flexible material.

In use, when the two end portions of the body are aligned, the toy may be propelled by a baby along a straight path. However, if this path contains obstacles, especially furniture and the like, which can be damaged, it is better to incline one end po1tion of the toy to the other so that it travels along a circular path in an unrestricted space so avoiding such obstacles. Conveniently, the two skeletal structures within the end portions of a walking-aid toy are joined in pivotal manner.

Preferably, in a walking-aid toy, the position at which the pivot is located is adjacent either end, thus, in relation to a toy animal, at either the hip or shoulder joint. Conveniently, in the former case, a handle for the baby extends outwardly of the toy from the hip or the tail and, in the latter case, the handle extends rearwardly from the shoulder or head.

The resiliently flexible material of which the body is formed is preferably a molded material of natural or synthetic rubber or synthetic resin or a mixture of both. Appropriate materials include rubber, sponge rubber,

3,514,896 Patented June 2, 1970 flexible material in the end portions of a walking-aid toy.

lends it a certain rigidity while leaving the intermediate portions resiliently flexible so as to faciltate the pivoting of one end portion with respect to the other.

In order that this invention may be well understood, it will now be described by way of illustration only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a walking-aid toy according to this invention with parts of the body cut away to show the internal skeletal structure, and

FIG. 2 illustrates in plan view the operating position of another embodiment of walking-aid toy according to this invention.

Referring first to FIG. 1, there is shown a toy dog having a one piece resiliently flexible body having front end portion 1 and a rear end portion 2. Each end portion is provided with an internal skeletal structure 3, 4

respectively, advantageously formed of mild steel rod of inch diameter. The skeletal structures 3, 4 are shaped to the skeleton of the dog; thus skeletal structure 3 defines the front limbs and extends into the head while skeletal structure 4 defines the rear limbs and a backbone. For convenience, the right-hand set of limbs part of the internal skeleton is shown as a dotted line.

A wheel 5 depends from each leg and the wheel rotates about an axle (not shown) there being an axle between each pair of wheels.

The skeletal structure 3 and 4 are joined together in pivotal manner as follows.

A rearward extension 6 of skeletal structure 3 is placed in the bifurcated end 7 of a forward extension 8 of skeletal structure 4, a bolt 9 passing therethrough and having a nut 10 screwed thereon.

A pair of handlebars 11 extends rearwardly of the head of the dog from a point just behind the ears and the handlebars are used to guide the toy along. The

fvhole toy is provided with a body of foamed rubber atex.

In use, a baby or child may sit on the animals shoulders, grasping handlebars 11, with his feet in walking contact with the ground. When the end portion 1 is aligned with end portion 2, the toy is propelled along a straight line but if the two end portions are inclined with respect to each other, by pulling one of the handlebars so as to alter the position of extension 6 in pivot of end 7, the toy will travel along a circular path.

It will be noted that the internal skeletal structures 3, 4 do not extend to the front and rear extremities of the toy, leaving these area-s formed solely of resiliently flexible material so that if the toy comes into contact with an object, the resilience of the material will cushion the blow so minimizing the damage to the object.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown plan views of a walking-aid toy in the shape of an animal. The difference between the embodiment of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 lies in the fact that handlebars 11 are here united to form a handle 12 extending from the tail of the animal. FIG. 2a illustrates the position when end portions 1 and 2 are aligned and the toy may be propelled in a straight line, and FIG. 2b illustrates the position when end portion 1 is inclined to end portion 2 and the toy may be propelled to follow a circular path.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the handle is preferably formed of metal which is bendable so that the tail may be bent to lie over the body of the animal or to extend rearwardly of it. It is preferred to bend the tail so that the handle lies over the animal so advancing its center of gravity because this minimizes the risk of the toy being pulled up on to its rear legs pushing the baby downward.

In one form of walking-aid toy of the type shown in FIG. 2, the overall length is 22 inches, the height from the floor to the hip being 12 inches and from the floor to the head being 18 /2 inches. The length of the tail is 8 inches and the nose is 3 inches but may be compressed to inch.

The invention is not limited to the two embodiments just described. Thus the toy may be formed in several animal shapes, for example in the shape of a tortoise, an elephant, a camel or a lion. The propelling means may be formed of more than two pairs of Wheels, or even skis or the like, while it may also be formed of one pair of wheels only. Alternatively, one end portion may have two wheels and the other one wheel only or some other form of propelling means. The'body may extend over the entire animal or it may not cover the limbs which may be formed of exposed skeletal structure only. The connection between the two skeletal structures may be formed of pivoting means other than that described, for example, extension 6 may be formed as a hammerhead and extension 7 may be appropriately shaped to mate with it. In the case of an animal handlebars 11 may be formed inside the ears of the animal so as not to mar its overall appearance.

What is claimed is:

1. A movable toy comprising a one piece resiliently flexible body defining an animal shape, said body including a front end portion and a rear end portion; a first skeletal structure disposed internally of said front end portion; a second skeletal structure disposed internally of said rear end portion; first means pivotally joining said first and second skeletal structures together in pivotal manner within said body; and second means attached to one of said end portions of said body for directing 4 said body whereby pivoting of one of said end portions with respect to the other of said end portions allows movement of the toy in a circular path.

2. A movable toy as set forth in claim 1 wherein said skeletal structures are each formed of mild steel rods, said body is formed of molded material and said second means includes wheels on each said end portion.

3. A movable toy as described in claim 1 wherein said first means comprises a bifurcated extension of said second skeletal structure, a rearward extension of said first skeletal structure located within said bifurcated extension and a bolt passing through said bifurcated and rearward extensions having a nut afiixed thereto.

4. A movable toy as described in claim 1 wherein a handle is attached to one of said portions for pivoting one portion about the other portion.

5'. A movable toy as described in claim 1.wherein a bendable handle is attached to and extends from said rear portion of said toy to simulate a tail.

6. A movable toy as described in claim 1 wherein said resiliently flexible body surrounding said skeletal structures is designed to form the shape of a dog, a handle is attached to said dog adjacent the ears of the dog for pivoting the front portion of the dog about the rear portion.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 139,130 5/1873 Ellis 46173 934,797 9/1909 Davis 272-52 2,017,023 10/1935 Rendle 4616() X FOREIGN PATENTS 702,299 1/196'5 Canada. 836,542 l/l939 France. 333,935 1936 Italy.

LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner E. KRAUSE, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

